1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus which is generally called as an embosser for embossing cards.
2. Description of Related Art
This type of embosser is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. Sho-60-501054, Sho-58-051393, Sho-56-038281, etc.
There has been hitherto known an embosser in which a card processing apparatus for performing embossing processing on cards is connected to a hopper for stocking cards. In this type of embosser, a card is picked up from the hopper and supplied to the card processing apparatus on the basis of an instruction of a computer, and the embossing processing and the encode processing are performed in the card processing apparatus.
However, the conventional embossers as described above are inadequate in that card processing must be performed on every card type. That is, if another type of card is required to be embossed, an operator must replace one type of card for the other type of card in the hopper. Further, when an error is caused on a card during the encoding processing or the like or when an operator forgets to take out a card, the operator's assistance is indispensable to take out the card or release the error. However, there has not yet been developed any embosser which can avoid the above disadvantage of the conventional embossers.